The News
Jupiter and Mars will be closer together in the night sky Wednesday than any time until 2033. The two neighbors will be just one-third of one degree apart, about a third of the width of the moon in the sky. In reality, they’ll still be 350 million miles apart, but sky watchers will be able to line both up in their telescopes with ease.
The two planets’ orbits bring them into line every three years, but minor variations change their relative position each time: In 1761, they were so close as to appear a single object. The best views will be in the eastern sky before daybreak, and the conjunction coincides with the Perseid meteor shower.